


Something Missing (it was forgotten)

by jennshiki



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Airplanes, Angst, Fluff, M/M, Rain, Reincarnation, Reincarnation AU, balcony, everyone died and this is their second life, forgetting things, remembering, there's not that much angst tho don't worry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-16
Updated: 2016-10-16
Packaged: 2018-08-22 18:53:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8296451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jennshiki/pseuds/jennshiki
Summary: Lance always felt like he was looking for something. Sometimes, he’d wake up to find himself crying. Confused, he’d wipe away his tears and struggle to remember if he had had any bad dreams. Usually, his mind would be blank. Sometimes though, if he lucked out, he would catch glimpses of blurry faces, distant voices, and colors. A color he saw a lot was blue. The other color he saw the most was red.--REINCARNATION AU ! --





	

Lance always felt like he was looking for something. 

There was always that feeling that he was forgetting something incredibly important, but he could never remember what it was.  
He’d had this feeling for as long as he could remember, and it never disappeared. It was always there, as the thoughts at the back of his head, or the odd yearning in his heart. It was weird, like he knew what it was but he didn’t know it. It was so close, just not close enough. 

The only thing he did know, was that something was missing.

Often times, an unfamiliar yet familiar sight would trigger a wave of nostalgia to crash over him, and he’d end up feeling so frustrated that he didn’t know why. The triggers didn’t help Lance at all in figuring out why they made him feel a certain way, because they would be the weirdest of things. 

One time, he and his friend Katie were playing around with Photoshop on a computer, and she had altered the colors of a lion so that it was blue. Blue lion. Those two words, so random, suddenly caused tears to jump to his eyes, and he felt an immense sense of loss.

Another example was when he was in line at a hair salon. He had been browsing the catalog, and his eyes were drawn to a model with a black mullet. Lance’s first reaction was to scoff, because who in this day and age would want a mullet? But then his amusement turned into affection and aching, and then such an intense sadness fell over him that he had to sit down. He felt off for the rest of the day.

Sometimes, he’d wake up to find himself crying. Confused, he’d wipe away his tears and struggle to remember if he had had any bad dreams. Usually, his mind would be blank. Sometimes though, if he lucked out, he would catch glimpses of blurry faces, distant voices, and colors. A color he saw a lot was blue. The other color he saw the most was red. 

Lance wished the feeling would go away. He tried to ignore it the best he could, and didn’t think on it too much when he didn’t have to. After all, his logic was that if something was really so important that it plagued his mind on a daily basis, there was no way that he could forget it, right? So the feeling must have been a result of stress or maybe he was just remembering past dreams. That was it.

He dismissed the feeling as something trivial, until a cold autumn day when he was 16 years old changed everything.

Lance was listening to music through his headphones, leaning against the bus window, forehead pressed against the cold glass. It was 7:00 AM, and Lance had not gotten nearly enough beauty sleep. The stupid feeling of emptiness was stronger than ever, and it had kept him up for half the night. He had this nervous, excited feeling in his gut, like something big was going to happen. And happen it did.

The first domino began to fall when the school bus screeched to a stop.

Lance yawned and lifted his head tiredly to eye the bus door as it swung open. This was the stop where his friends Katie and Hunk would be getting on. A few people he didn’t know streamed onto the bus first, their voices adding to the loud chatter of the other students. He spotted Hunk, and raised his hand to wave, as usual. Like a normal day. Then he suddenly forgot how to breathe when he spotted Katie.

Her wavy hazel hair, which usually reached down to her back, had been snipped short, now reaching halfway down her neck. It was pointed upwards at the ends, and made her look vaguely like a boy (not that it was a bad thing). 

It shouldn’t have been much of a shock to see a friend with a haircut, but there was something about this situation that was so familiar. De ja vu. It was like this had happened before. 

“Nice haircut,” said Lance, as Katie slid beside him. 

Hunk took the seat behind them. Lance said hi to him as well, slipping off his headphones so they rested at his neck.

“Thanks. I looked in the mirror this morning and the idea of shorter hair seemed really appealing for some reason, so I just grabbed a pair of scissors and cut it off,” she explained, pulling out her phone. 

“That’s a kind of impulsive decision,” commented Lance with a laugh. “What did your family think?”

Katie shrugged, only half listening to what Lance had said, her thumbs flying across her phone screen. 

Lance shook his head, and stared at Katie’s new hairstyle for a few more seconds before pushing his headphones back over his ears.  
-

“Do you think these would look good on me?” asked Katie, lifting up a pair of glasses with circular lenses. 

Other than Katie’s new hair, the school day had passed like a breeze without further incident for Lance. Now the trio was hanging around the mall to unwind after school.

“I didn’t know you needed glasses,” mumbled Hunk. He was chewing on a food sample he had gotten from the store next door.

“I don’t. Haven’t you ever heard of accessorizing?” scoffed Katie, putting the glasses on.

Lance inhaled sharply.

Katie stepped to the side to stare at her reflection in the mirror. She adjusted the glasses. 

“Hmm, I don’t know if these suit me that well, actually. Dunno what I was thinking.”

“I think you should get them,” blurted Lance. 

Both Hunk and Katie turned their heads to stare at him in surprise. Lance didn’t know why he said that, but there was something about how  
Katie looked right now that felt so _right_.

“I don’t know, it just looks right? Have you ever worn glasses before? With short hair? I feel like you have,” continued Lance.

He cursed at himself silently. Once he started talking, it was hard to stop. But surprisingly, Katie didn’t shoot Lance a questioning stare. Instead, she looked confused and thoughtful.

“I’ve definitely never worn circular glasses before. Especially with shorter hair,” said Katie quietly. Her tone of voice made it seem as if she was trying to convince herself, like she didn’t quite believe what should be the truth. “But I agree, it seems right.” 

As Katie went over to the register to pay for the glasses, Lance decided to step out for a breath of fresh air. So many weird things were happening today, and the feeling that he was forgetting something was stronger than ever.

He turned to walk back to the store, having had calmed down, when he bumped into another guy. 

“Hey, watch where you’re going,” snapped the stranger, his voice muffled. 

Lance turned and his eyes locked onto the boy’s. Purplish grey eyes stared back at Lance’s. _Rude._

“Geez, sorry,” replied Lance, narrowing his eyes.

The boy had a dark red bandanna covering half his face, so Lance couldn’t see any distinguishing features other than his eyes. From what he could observe, the boy was pale, Asian, and had longer black hair. And was a few inches shorter than Lance. 

The boy growled in response and started walking away. Lance was astonished at his lack of manners, and didn’t take his eyes off him until the boy turned a corner and disappeared from sight. His hair almost reminded Lance of a mullet. Click. Black mullet. 

Before he could stop himself, Lance broke into a run, racing after the boy. But when he turned the corner, he was met with a huge crowd of people. It’d be impossible to find him.

That’s when the first memory came to Lance. It was of a boy, _the_ boy who he had just seen. The hair was the same, face uncovered but unclear, wearing some kind of red and white armor. There was what looked like a giant mechanical cat in the background. It was blue. A blue cat. A blue lion. Black mullet, blue lion.

Lance blinked, and turned to walk back to his friends. He felt like he wasn’t entirely awake, and was slightly dizzy. What did this mean? What was that image that flashed in his head? A dream? Why had he been dreaming of a boy he had never met before? 

Lance spotted Katie and Hunk sitting on a bench, and he shook away the thoughts. The boy probably wasn’t the same one from his dream. Maybe they happened to have the same hairstyle, and it made Lance remember his dream. Coincidences happen. 

But still, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he knew the guy. Lance sighed. Today had been a _really_ weird day.  
Lance walked over and took a seat beside Hunk. 

“You okay? You look really tired buddy,” asked Hunk, staring down at Lance with worry. 

Lance forced his lips up into a smile. “All’s good. Just remembered I have a lot of homework and a big test in math tomorrow.”

It wasn’t a lie, and Lance cringed as he realized what large amount of work he had to finish for tomorrow.  
-

Lance didn’t get a good night’s sleep that night either. In fact, it was worse. After rushing to finish his homework, he finally got to bed at around 1:00am. Then the events of the day cycled through Lance’s mind over and over again, keeping him wide awake.

He only got an hour of sleep, and that precious hour that he got was filled with dreams that Lance was unable to remember. His face was  
wet though when he woke up. He’d been crying again. 

Lance had hoped that he’d be able to nap during homeroom, like he often did. Unfortunately, his routine was interrupted with the announcement of a new student in his class. 

Lance had just been dozing off, when the teacher cleared her throat. 

“Class, I’d like you to welcome our new student,” said the teacher. 

Lance had yawned and didn’t hear the name of the student. He looked up, and started to choke. Loudly. The whole class turned their heads to stare at him, and he attempted to smile apologetically as he coughed hysterically. The class quickly lost interest in him and turned their attention back to the new student. 

When his coughing fit was finally over, Lance tried to avert his eyes, but eventually there was nowhere else to look but at the new student. And didn’t the world just love him this week because it was the stranger he had bumped into the day before. He’d recognize that hair anywhere.

Actually seeing his face confirmed for Lance that this boy was indeed the dude from the memory or vision or whatever he had seen yesterday. Or at least he resembled him. A lot. 

The boy stared at him. No recognition passed over his face. Lance wasn’t sure if he should be relieved or offended that the boy didn’t remember him from literally less than 24 hours ago. 

“You can take a seat in the empty desk over there,” said the teacher. 

Ah of course. And so the lucky streak continues. The only empty desk in the room was next to Lance. 

The boy walked over and took a seat. Lance had not heard the boy’s name, and it was just announced to the class so he would seem rude if he asked him. Lance decided to just wait for someone else to call his name.

Fortunately, the boy made no effort to talk to him, or anyone for that matter. He seemed like a loner. It made sense, and from the first impression Lance got of him from yesterday, he didn’t think the guy was very likable. 

It was still homeroom, but Lance wasn’t about to sleep with the new guy sitting next to him. He stared over at the guy. Lance didn’t want to keep referring to him as the new guy, but he didn’t have any clue what his name was. He’d give him a temporary nickname then.

“Mullet,” he whispered, then snickered. Perfect.

The word seemed to fit on his tongue, and Lance felt a righteousness, much like when Katie had put on those glasses.

The guy, newly deemed as Mullet, spun his head over instantly to glare at Lance. That was when Lance realized too late that he had spoken aloud. 

“It’s not a mullet,” hissed the boy.

“It is too. Mullet, you really need a new hairstyle,” retorted Lance, not missing a beat. 

“My hair is fine, thank you very much. Don’t call me mullet, my name is---“

Mullet-dude’s words were cut off by a loud crash. Lance groaned internally. And just when he was about to learn the guy’s name.  
Some guy had dropped his book on the ground. Lance frowned, and turned his attention back to Mullet-boy. He expected him to continue, but Mullet just shook his head and opened up a book. 

Lance sighed. It was like the universe just didn’t want him to find out Mullet-guy’s name.

“Hey, rude, I was talking to you,” whined Lance.

Mullet scowled at Lance, not closing his book. 

“What do you want?”

“At least let me introduce myself to you!”

“Go ahead,” replied Mullet, clearly uninterested.

“The name’s Lance, pleasure to make your acquaintance,” announced Lance dramatically.

Now the dude did shut his book, and he turned in his seat so his body was facing Lance completely. His eyes widened, and he seemed as if he was remembering something.

“Have we met before?”

Lance blinked. Ah, so the guy did remember him from yesterday. 

“Oh yeah I thought you forgot. Yesterday at the mall you mean?”

The boy’s eyes widened more as if that was new information. So if the mall encounter wasn’t what he was referring to, then what was he?

“Right, uh, never mind.”

He turned back to his book, but his mind was clearly elsewhere as he didn’t turn the page after several minutes. 

Lance watched the guy as he ‘read’, and Lance found himself wearing a faint smile. His face heated up when he realized that he’d been staring. The heck? Lance could admit that the guy was the opposite of ugly, but his personality was horrible. Yet when Lance searched, he didn’t feel any bitterness towards the boy. In fact, it was more of fondness. Lance recoiled, shrinking away from the boy. What was wrong with him?  
-

When the school day was over, Lance had headed over to Katie’s locker so they could walk to the bus together, when he spotted her speaking with a senior student. Lance recognized him as Takashi. He had black hair styled in a buzz cut, with a tuft of hair in the middle.  
Lance felt a sense of protectiveness for Katie and wondered what the heck she was doing with a guy like him. 

Lance walked closer while keeping out of sight, and he noted that Katie was wearing her new glasses today. As he neared, he caught bits of their conversation. 

“I remembered…….glasses……good to see you…..Pidge.”

That was what Lance had heard from Takashi. Most of it was meaningless, but the last word. Pidge. 

Another memory resurfaced, and Lance saw Katie, short hair and glasses, in white and green armor. She was speaking to…Takashi? Except Takashi’s tuft of hair was white, and he had a scar on his nose. He wore black and white armor. What a weird dream. Didn’t Katie say that she had never worn glasses with short hair? So why was Lance remembering or dreaming about it? Were these images even from old dreams? Or were they something else? What the heck was going on?

Lance blinked as he was snapped back into reality by Katie’s voice. 

“Lance! What are you doing over there? Come here,” called Katie.

She had spotted him. Lance reluctantly waved and walked over. 

“This is Takashi, but he goes by Shiro. Maybe you two have met?” asked Katie.

Her voice sounded hopeful. Lance recognized the name Shiro, he just didn’t know where he’d heard it before. He was becoming more and more confused with his memories. Did he know the guy? No, not personally. The guy was loved by all teachers, and was at the top of all his classes, so Lance had heard plenty of stories about him. He’d seen him around school sometimes too, but that was it.

“Uh I think I’ve seen you around school,” offered Lance, shrugging. 

Katie’s face fell, but she maintained a smile on her face. Lance could see Shiro looking a bit disappointed as well. Lance felt really out of the loop. Was he missing something here?

“Well, it’s nice to meet you Lance,” said Shiro warmly, holding out his right hand.

Lance smiled and shook his hand. Shiro looked down at his arm, a surprised expression on his face. As if he just remembered that he….had an arm? That thought almost made sense to Lance. He just didn’t know why.

Recently, it seemed like Lance didn’t know a lot of things. It was frustrating. He was so close to remembering whatever it was that he had forgotten. He knew it. He could feel it, like when a word is on the tip of your tongue. But not quite. So close, yet so far. 

“Just one question, does the word Voltron mean anything to you?” asked Shiro. 

He sounded innocent enough but Lance could hear slight hidden intent beneath those words. At the name, the image of weird giant complex robot thing popped up in Lance’s head. 

“Uh, not really? I mean, it kind of sounds like the name of a robot,” said Lance jokingly.

Shiro and Katie shared a look. 

“Uh okay, I thought so too,” said Shiro, laughing nervously.

“Ok, we should get going or we’re going to miss the bus. Good seeing you Shiro!” intervened Katie, tugging on Lance’s sleeve.  
Shiro waved goodbye, and Lance followed Katie out to the buses.  
-

On the bus, Lance watched Katie curiously as she tapped away at her phone. He had nothing else to do, as his phone was out of battery and Hunk had afterschool activities. She looked much more focused and determined than usual. 

“What are you doing?” he asked, leaning over to peer over her shoulder. 

Looking at her screen didn’t help because she kept switching tabs lightning quick, and paragraphs of text appeared in seconds as she typed away. 

Katie kept her eyes trained on the phone with such an intensity that Lance wouldn’t be surprised if her eyes bore a hole straight through the screen.

“I’m looking for someone.” 

Lance opened his mouth to ask who she was looking for, when Katie suddenly stopped. She had a confused look on her face. 

"Wait, what did I say I was doing?"

"Uh, you were looking for someone?"

Katie looked even more confused. She stared down at the screen, reading over whatever it was she had just done, like trying to refresh her memory. It was weird to watch, like she blanked out and then forgot what she was doing.

Lance shrugged and turned to face the window, watching the orange trees as they passed by in the world outside.  
-

That night, it was about two am when Lance gave up on trying to fall asleep. He threw on a jacket and stepped out onto the balcony, hoping the cold night air might make him a bit sleepier.

He walked over to the edge and rested his arms on the railing, leaning over so nothing stood between his head and the ground below. He breathed in, the smell of leaves tinting the air. The cold swept over Lance, and he shivered, pulling his jacket closer.

Lance looked up at the night sky. Countless stars were speckled across, and the black night sky was also illuminated by a full moon. Lance decided to search for familiar constellations. He’d always liked astronomy and space related things, as it made the incomplete feeling inside feel a little more complete. The map of the night sky was engraved in Lance’s mind. But tonight, he found himself looking for something else. Looking. He was always looking for something.

Lance teared his eyes away from the sky. These constellations weren’t the ones that Lance wanted to see. But that made no sense, because these were the only constellations he had ever seen. The only constellations you _could_ see, at least if you were on earth. And Lance had never left earth. 

Yet tonight, Lance found a different night sky in his mind. It was different, and detailed. Like the sky of another planet. Lance furrowed his eyebrows and groaned, leaning down to rest his chin in his arms. Coming out here was supposed to help him clear his mind, not to give himself more things to think about.

Lance looked straight forward, at the house across the street. The house also had a balcony at the same height as Lance’s, and Lance could see a figure standing on the balcony, in a similar pose as Lance. He recalled that a new family had moved in, and he squinted to get a better look.

And of course it was. Because who else would it be but the boy with the mullet? Of all coincidences, it had to be this one.

Lance was about to retreat back into the confines of his room, where he’d plan to scroll through Tumblr on his phone for the rest of the night, when the boy looked directly at him. Despite the dark, Lance could see his storm colored eyes clearly, could almost see his own face reflected in those two big eyes. Mullet had seen him.

The two kept staring at each other, neither of them willing to lose this unspoken but mutual staring competition. Lance didn’t know whether or not to wave or just pretend he didn’t recognize him. What did people usually do when they made eye contact with their neighbors on balconies in the middle of the night?

Lance decided to be polite and hesitantly waved. Mullet waved back. A few awkward seconds passed. It was getting colder, and Lance wanted to go back in, but he didn’t know if it would be rude or not. They weren’t having a conversation or anything, but they were still staring at each other and this was just a really weird situation.  
Fortunately, Lance didn’t have to make the first move, and watched gratefully as Keith turned and went back inside. Lance stood up straight and stretched, then turned to walk back in as well. He had slid open the glass door, when something tapped at his back lightly.

Lance turned around just in time to see a paper airplane fall to the ground. Lance looked up to see Mullet standing back on the balcony, waiting expectantly.

Lance picked up the airplane, and found words scrawled messily on the inside of a wing. ‘Lance, right? What are you doing up so late?’  
Lance wondered why the heck he was even bothering to do this when he found himself going in and blindly groping his desk for a pencil.  
He was responding to a question sent from his neighbor by paper airplane, in the middle of the night. 

‘I could say the same to you,’ is what Lance wrote. However, when he tried to throw the paper airplane back over, it ended up spiraling diagonally downwards, and lodged itself somewhere on Mullet’s front yard. Lance felt his face heating up, and even more so when he heard soft laughter. 

Lance saw the boy go inside. After a few minutes of waiting, Lance assumed that Mullet had gone to sleep. Then he spotted the front door opening, revealing the boy in his pajamas and a jacket. Lance watched in disbelief as Mullet-dude started looking around in his front yard. Was he searching for the airplane? Was the guy really that stupid? He could’ve just left it there for the morning.

To make matters worse, Lance felt a drop of rain splat on his nose. He stared upwards, and was dismayed to see that the once clear sky was now covered with clouds. Storm clouds. The wind picked up, and the short strands of Lance’s brown hair were pulled all over the place by the persistent gusts of wind. The rain started falling quicker. Pitter. Patter. Pitter. Patter.  
Lance glanced back down at Mullet-boy, and saw that the dude was still searching for the plane, unbothered by the rain. _He’s going to catch a cold_ , thought Lance, shaking his head. _And it’ll be my fault._

Since Lance was a nice person, he hurried inside, tip-toed downstairs, grabbed an umbrella, and rushed outside. He’d be a jerk if he just let the boy stay there alone in the cold rain.

Lance trudged out the door, reluctant to leave the warmth of his house again. But he forced himself forward, opening the umbrella. It was blue with red stripes, and hopefully big enough for two. He guessed it’d be okay if it was just for one. Lance liked the rain, and he didn’t mind getting a little wet.

Lance fast-walked across the road, not stopping for a single second until he stood in front of Mullet. The guy looked up, startled, as he stared uncomprehendingly at Lance and his umbrella. 

“Geez you really are an idiot. What the heck do you think you’re doing, searching for a paper airplane, outside in the rain, in the middle of the night,” whispered Lance, exasperated.

He held out his arm so that the umbrella fell over Mullet’s head, successfully covering him from the rain. Lance let out something close to a squeak when the guy suddenly tackled Lance and pulled him into a tight hug. 

His first and normal reaction would be to push the guy away, but Lance didn’t feel entirely uncomfortable in the guy’s arms, despite the fact that they were practically strangers. So he didn’t do anything.

“Uh, you’re welcome?” managed Lance. 

The boy chuckled.

“The amount of information in your head could be stored in a paper airplane.”

Huh? Lance didn’t know what that meant. And where had he heard that line before?

“We do make a good team.”

More words that he’d heard before. But from where?

“Cargo pilot.”

Wasn’t that a kind of job? What?

“Voltron.”

That was the word Shiro had said. 

“Lions. Blue. Red. Paladins. Pidge. Shiro. Hunk. Allura. Coran.”

Lance had an idea of what the boy was going to say next. The word, the name, was submerged deep in his mind. But he’d know it when he heard it. 

“Keith Kogane.”

Lance gasped. That was his name. Keith. The red paladin. Lance really was an idiot. How could he have forgotten? 

A wall fell in Lance’s mind, and everything stuck behind the other side started streaming through. 

Lance laughed incredulously. He’d always been looking for something. He finally found it.

Lance hugged Keith back.

“I’m surprised you only remembered now,” said Keith, his face buried in Lance’s shoulder. “You’d been with Hunk and Pidge! Shiro went to your school for god’s sake. You are really the biggest idiot ever.”

“Of course, it’s our reunion and all you can do is mock me,” whined Lance.

But Lance wasn’t upset. In fact it was the opposite. He was hearing Keith’s voice again, actually hearing his voice for the first time and  
knowing who he really was. Lance’s heart felt like it was about to burst. He was feeling so many things at once; happiness, shock, confusion, sadness, relief, so much. But most of all, he felt complete. The feeling that he had forgotten something was finally gone. Nothing was missing anymore. 

Only fragments of his past life came at first, but it was enough for him to piece together what had happened. The Galra Empire was destroyed. The paladins of Voltron had won. But Zarkon had spent his last living moments to shoot a powerful laser at the Castle of Lions. Everyone had just flown back into the castle, thankful that it was all finally over. The laser hit a few seconds later, passing the particle barrier with ease. There was an explosion. Everybody died. Lance felt a stab of pain in his heart.

They never made it back to earth, their families never knew what happened to them, and nobody knew that they had saved earth. Lance never got a parade.

Lance missed his home, his family, and his mother. He had a new mother, technically. And it wasn’t like she was a fake or a bad mom, and he loved her. But he never got to say goodbye to his original mom. It was so weird. He had two parents, two families. Except one was probably mostly dead, and also thought he was dead. Which he technically was.

The realization was so bizarre, that he had lived, then _died_ , and now was living again. It had been 50 years since he died. If he was  
still living his past life, he’d be almost 70 years old. Lance shuddered at the thought of being so old. The garrison was still here, though Iverson was probably dead now. Lance had an infinite number of questions bouncing around in his head. Why did it take so long for him to reincarnate? Was it just by chance that he and his friends were all reincarnated into the same time, with pretty much the same age differences as originally? What happened to his soul during the time that he was _dead_?

But _how_ it happened didn’t really matter. All that mattered was that it did. He was given a second chance to live his life. Maybe it was a reward given by some higher being for saving the universe? That was a nice thought. That he was getting something in return for everything that he had done. Maybe karma really was a thing.

Lance was still hugging Keith, and Keith made no indication that he wanted to break apart. Lance didn’t want to let go. It’d been so long. They were both alive, finally reunited. Lance could feel Keith’s slim fingers digging into his back as he held on, as if Lance was his lifeline.

Lance hated to be the one who pulled apart first, but as they hugged, the umbrella had fallen to the side and now they were both soaking wet. 

Keith didn’t seem to notice until Lance brought the umbrella up back over them. Lance stared at the strands of black hair clinging to Keith’s pale face. His sharp features were perfectly visible, illuminated by the soft yellow light from the street lamps. He looked exactly the same as Lance remembered. Lance laughed more when he realized that Keith had chosen a mullet in this life as well as his past. 

“We’re soaked,” commented Keith, a blush starting to creep up his face as if he was remembering how _intimate_ they had just been when hugging.

“Thanks for stating the obvious,” deadpanned Lance, shivering. 

It was cold before, but now with wet clothes clinging to his skin, and hair drenched with rain, it was downright freezing. 

Lance would’ve suggested that they cuddle up next to each other to share the body heat as a joke, but he suddenly felt so tired, and in an instant, his eyelids became heavy as rocks. It was time to sleep.

“We better go back in to get dried up, or we’ll catch a cold,” suggested Lance. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Keith nodded, but he didn’t move. “Wait.”

It happened in a blur. Keith was leaning forward, and Lance found himself being drawn closer as if there was a magnet. And then their lips got smooshed together. They were kissing. Lance barely had time to register it in his head before they broke apart. The world seemed to melt away for a moment, and Lance was speechless and disorientated.

“I wanted to do that before but I never got the chance before we died. If this is my second chance, then I’m not letting it go to waste. Uh, I hope you didn’t mind? I mean if you didn’t like it then we can pretend it never happened uh,” rambled Keith nervously. 

Lance grinned.

“It’s okay.”

He leaned over and gave Keith a quick hesitant peck on the cheek, which resulted in an unbelievably happy expression on his face.

“See you! I’m glad I finally remembered you,” said Lance. 

Lance wore a smile on his face the whole time, as he stepped inside, changed into dry clothes, and slipped into bed.

He almost didn’t want to go to sleep, worried that he’d forget this all in the morning, like a dream. Lance shook away his worries. It would all be okay. There was no way he could forget something so important. Well, he’d been forgetting it all his life, but he had remembered it now. _It’ll be okay now,_ Lance told himself firmly. And he believed it.

Even if he wanted to stay awake though, Lance was so tired. He’d never felt this drained before. The moment his head hit the pillow, he was asleep.  
\- 

Lance woke up. The ghosts of a dream were lingering in his head, but they were already starting to slip away. 

There was something about airplanes and rain. Two meaningless words.

Then Lance realized he was crying. Again. Great. He yawned, feeling, like usual, that he was forgetting something very, very important. 

“Oh well. If it was really so important then I would have remembered it.”

**Author's Note:**

> I just watched kimi no na wa (SUCH A BEAUTIFUL ANIME OH MY GOD IT WAS AMAZING THE ART?? THE STORY?? HOW EVERYTHING IS PIECED TOGETHER IT’S AN ACTUAL MASTERPIECE SO MANY FEELS) and it inspired me to write something similar?? This turned out not really like the anime lmao which is good bc I didn’t want to copy it
> 
> I’M SORRY FOR THE ENDING I REGRETTED AND FELT SAD WRITING IT ,, THERE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A HAPPY ENDING !!! But then I had this idea and it felt right even though it killed me and I had to do it….angst my friends is my best friend,,, ahhhhghi I’m in pain right now I’m sorry  
> It’s inspired by kimi no na wa mostly in the way that they forget something so important that they shouldn’t be able to forget it :’(
> 
> I mean it makes sense because they were reincarnated for a new life, so if they remember their old life then they can't live their new one??? and as much as we all wish they could be who they once were, they're dead and that's the truth. which is sad but it's just cold harsh reality :( bc even if people are reincarnated they never actually remember their past life :'(
> 
> i'm thinking that keith n lance will be friends again and hold the same feelings for each other as in their past life, but they will never actually remember their past lives again, they'll just keep feeling like they're forgetting something (which they are)


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